Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Gin Mill Grill--A Sandi Webster Mystery

I'm hosting Marja McGraw on my blog this week. Marja has a
new Sandi Webster mystery to tell us about. The floor is yours, Marja.

John, Thank you for having me as a guest today. I enjoy your
posts and I’m delighted to be a part of your blog.

You might wonder how I came up with a storyline that involves
speakeasies and gin mills. I was stuck for an idea and sat down with a large
book filled with the front pages of newspapers. I can’t say the headlines
grabbed my attention, but farther down the page you can find all kinds of
stories.

We like to say that things were simpler in the old days, and
that people were more innocent than we are now. That’s not necessarily true.

Through researching old newspapers I’ve found some
sensational stories that involved things you’d think might happen today, but
not back in the thirties or forties. People are people, and they do unexpected
things for surprising reasons.

I’m getting off track. When I started reading some of the
stories, the ones farther down the page, I ran across one regarding the murder
of a man and the disappearance of his brother. Needless to say, the authorities
thought of the disappearing brother as their prime suspect. To the best of
their knowledge, he’d been in the house at the time of the murder and somehow
managed to escape.

That’s all I needed. This brief story got the best of my
imagination and the storyteller in me was off and running. I wanted an
interesting time and location involved in the story and what might be better
than a speakeasy during Prohibition? I needed a resolution to the disappearing
brother, and I found one. I also needed someone who might even care about the
brothers in current time, and I found just the woman. I also needed suspects,
but considering the era it took a bit more work to come up with some characters
who might still be living after so many years.

As the story unfolded, I wanted to include a really scary
guy, and I came up with one I think might give you the shivers. His nickname
was Water Boy and I think you’ll love letting him give you the chills.

Sandi Webster-Goldberg and her husband, Pete, have a
reputation for solving cold cases and it didn’t take long for a woman to walk
through their office door with an old case.

I think one of the reasons I enjoy occasionally having Sandi
and Pete solve a cold case is because the victim is “off stage,” so to speak.
They don’t have to face a recent murder and I don’t have to let gore sneak into
my books. When the pair solve a current case, it’s a bit trickier.

Overview:

Sandi and Pete have
earned a reputation for solving old cases, and they’re approached by a woman
who’d like a 1930s crime solved. A man was brutally murdered and his brother
immediately disappeared. The authorities believed the brother was their best
suspect, but they weren’t able to track him down.

Case closed – or was
it?

With the discovery of
a private room in the house where the crime was committed, Sandi and Pete must
change their thought processes and start running down other suspects and
looking at other locations, including an old speakeasy.

Why would someone in
the current day try to put a halt to the investigation? After all, the murder
took place in the 1930s.

Circumstances are
often not as they seem, and this case is no exception.

Thank you, Maggie! Newspapers contain stories we might never have thought of on our own. We just have to take the basics and run with them. I appreciate the comment about the cover, too. A new friend did an original painting for the cover.